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Year of birth: 1919

HALL OF FAME BIO
A Georgia music pioneer, Joseph “Cotton” Carrier was a popular emcee and performer on WSB’s “Barn Dance” in the 40s, appeared regularly as vocalist and guitarist for Boots Woodall and the TV Cowboys on Atlanta’s WAGA-TV in the 50s and enjoyed a successful career with the Lowery Publishing Company in the 60s and 70s.

Carrier was born near Arthur, Ky. in 1919 to a father who played 5-string banjo and a mother who played pump reed organ. He took up mandolin, fiddle and guitar and after high school, formed a hillbilly band with other young local musicians. Others took note of Carrier’s considerable talents and the charismatic young musician was invited to to join Goober and His Kentuckians. Soon afterward, he made the group’s accordian player, Jane Logan, his wife.

Hillbilly music became extremely popular in the 30s with the advent of radio, which often featured performances of live music mid-day and on Saturday evenings. On Nov. 16, 1940, WSB in Atlanta debuted its Barn Dance, a program that was staged at various theatres and auditoriums around town on Saturday night and broadcast on air. A year later, the station contacted Carrier, who was working with WPAD in Paducah, Ky., and asked him to both serve as emcee and play fiddle for the program. Carrier and his wife moved to Atlanta in September 1941, where Jane also became involved with the Barn Dance as accordion player with Hoot Owl Hollow Girls.

During World War II, Carrier served four years in the Army before returning to Atlanta. With disc jockeys replacing live shows, Carrier learned how to spin records and by 1947 had his own late Saturday night show on WSB entitled “Columbia Record Roundup.” He also formed a band called The Plantation Gang, which became one of the last hillbilly bands to appear on the Barn Dance as it made its final broadcast in 1950.

Television beckoned and in the 1950s Carrier joined Boots Woodall and the TV Cowboys on WAGA-TV in Atlanta. He also explored his songwriting talents and in 1953, composed “I Have But One Goal” for the Smith Brothers gospel quartet. The song became the first hit for the newly formed Bill Lowery Publishing Company in Atlanta. Carrier tried his hand as a booking agent and on Dec. 2, 1955, brought a relatively unknown musician named Elvis Presley to the Sports Arena at a cost of $1 per ticket. Presley and band received $300 for performing before an audience of 285.

In 1957, Carrier joined the growing Lowery Publishing as a promoter and spent 20 years with the company, working with artists including Joe South, Billy Joe Royal, Jerry Reed, Ray Stevens and the Tams, among others. In March 1963, he accompanied a young Tommy Roe to England where the Beatles, yet to make their American debut, opened for Roe.

Joseph “Cotton” Carrier died July 18, 1994 and his wife Jane died May 19, 2000.

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